TAMPA, FL-The 50-building, 689-unit Cove Apartments facing Tampa Bay is under new ownership today. The Ballast Point Group of St. Petersburg, FL paid the Laramar Group of Chicago $61 million, or $88,607 per unit, for the 98%-leased property at 4003 South West Shore Blvd.
Area brokers tell GlobeSt.com the per-unit price was a premium for the 25-year-old asset. The two-story property, which has two clubhouses, has 900 feet of direct frontage on Tampa Bay along with frontage on a canal. The Cove was on the market for only two weeks.
"There was significant interest from developers, converters and income buyers," Sean Williams, vice president, Apartment Realty Advisors of Boca Raton, tells GlobeSt.com. "Assets of this quality usually generate 20 to 30 offers."
The deal was done at this time because "The Cove's performance benefited strongly from the large amount of properties being converted to condos," Williams says. "It was a prime time to sell the asset." But a condo conversion is not in the works for the Cove. "At this time, the owner's intent is to maintain it as an income property."
Williams and ARA principal Marc deBaptiste negotiated for Laramar. Ballast represented itself. The deal took 45 days to complete, from contract signing to closing. The average asking base rent range is $545 to $1,135.The Cove "represents one of the few remaining waterfront assets in the highly desirable South Tampa market," Williams tells GlobeSt.com.
The area surrounding the Cove is completely built out, with most new development resulting from the demolition of older structures, deBaptiste says. "It's incredible to see the vast resurgence of older infill areas of Tampa. The Cove is ideally situated in the path of Tampa's new growth," he adds.
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